Write an analysis of a short story, including your interpretation of the story’s meaning, as well as relating the story’s meaning to your overall exploration of the humanities.
GRADING: See the Module Activity Grading Criteria for detailed information regarding the minimum requirements.
MATERIALS: Refer to all module materials, including the textbook.
INSTRUCTIONS:
For your analysis, read some of the short stories from the following link and selectONE story to write about: http://americanliterature.com/twenty-great-american-short-stories.
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IMPORTANT UPDATE: The link above with a list of the short stories you can choose from has been recently revised causing three of the stories to only have summaries provided vs. the full text. Obviously, you don’t want to rely on a summary to complete this activity, since you need to read the short story in full (and sometimes the summary is longer than the short story!). ‘d like to provide access to anyone who wants to use one of the three short stories that has been removed from the link. Here they are:
The Lottery (1948) by Shirley Jackson: Link to The Lottery
Thank You, Ma’am (1958) by Langston Hughes: Link to Thank You, Ma’am
The Split Cherry Tree (1939) by Jesse Stuart: Link to The Split Cherry Tree
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When you’ve completed all of this, write your analysis and make sure to include the following:
Title of the story, author, date of publication
Basic plot (shouldn’t take any more than a few sentences)
Explain the ultimate meaning of the story. Provide as many examples as possible. Please note that this is your “interpretation” of the many possible meanings that the author is trying to convey. This is a point over which reasonable people may disagree. How do some of the ideas presented in the course material support your own interpretation? Remember, bringing in two sources from the course material is a requirement.
Explain how your interpretation of the story (and the story itself) teaches us something useful as human beings.
Module Activity Grading Criteria
Each module will contain one major activity, either an individual analysis or an interactive discussion. Individual analyses are submitted to a Dropbox and only read by the instructor, whereas discussions will be visible to all participants in the class.
Each module activity will include an introduction, explanation of grading and materials needed, instructions, and (for discussions only) the expectations for the Reflection Post.
If you are aiming to maximize points, then the following minimum requirements must first be met:
Word requirements:
Minimum of 500 words for individual written assignments submitted to a Dropbox
Minimum of 500 words for discussions (300 words for the Initial Post + 200 words for the Reflection Post = 500 words total)
Research requirement:
Minimum of 2 different sources beyond the text being analyzed. For example, if you are focusing on a short story, you may reference the short story in your analysis, but you’ll still need to bring in 2 other sources from the course to support your claims.
Use MLA Style for both in-text citations and corresponding Works Cited section for all individual analyses and discussion Initial Posts.
The readings (textbook and/or posted articles), videos, and/or webpages from the course are the only acceptable sources allowed; no outside research is permitted.
Please note: A couple of the module activities will not require research, so be sure to read the instructions carefully for each activity.
Use of college-level vocabulary and sentence structure
Professional appearance—neat and correctly typed using paragraphs to transition ideas. Do not use bullet-points to complete module activities. There may be instances where using bullet-points for portions of an activity is appropriate, but, in general, all work should be written in a way that connects your ideas together cohesively rather than separately, which is why the use of paragraphs is strongly encouraged for those aiming for full credit.
For discussions only: No attachments of any kind are permitted. Compose directly into the discussion window provided or copy/paste from a word processing application, like MS Word, for Dropbox submissions.
Use the above as your final checklist before submitting your work. If you are able to say “Yes, I covered this!” for each of the above, then you are certainly venturing into good territory! But keep in mind that the content of your work will also be considered, so the bullet-points above are the minimum technical requirements.
Note: For discussion assignments, the discussion forum will not populate all other posts until you have first submitted your Initial Post. Once you submit your Initial Post, the discussion forum will open up and display all other posts and allow you to contribute a Reflection Post.
Grading Guidelines
Module activities will be assigned one of the following grades. Use this as a key to understand what your grade means:
“A+” AWESOME! (100/100)
This is MASTERFUL work! You have done an excellent job! Beyond following directions and meeting all deadlines, you have demonstrated genuine scholarship. Your work is well organized and reflects keen critical thinking on your behalf. You have communicated ideas very effectively.
“A” VERY NICE WORK! (93/100)
This is excellent work that deserves the payoff of the “A” grade. It would have been possible for you to polish your work a bit more by tightening up your structure and by reasoning out your analysis a bit further, but this is still above average work and you have been rewarded accordingly. You explain your topics with a high degree of accuracy. You have provided in-depth analysis and you have applied your understanding of the material with a high degree of effectiveness.
“B” GREAT JOB! (86/100)
This is quality work that deserves the “B” grade. Perhaps you could have spent some more time working on supporting your points with more terms relevant to the topic–and perhaps you could have gone a little deeper with your analysis. This work could also use a bit more editing and a bit of tightening up in terms of structure, but it is well done, nonetheless. You explain your topics with considerable depth and with moderate accuracy. You have analyzed your topics in sufficient detail. You have applied your understanding with considerable effectiveness.
“C+” GOOD JOB! (79/100)
This is good work and leans toward greatness, but doesn’t quite deserve an upper tier grade. Few receive this grade, but those who do are those who straddle the margins between the “B” grade above and the “C” grade below.
“C” AVERAGE WORK (72/100)
This work contains fair-to-average scholarship. While you have followed most of the directions, you have failed to give full answers and/or have turned in written work with notable editorial concerns (spelling, grammar, punctuation, and/or disorganization of concepts and terms). Your analysis is somewhat superficial. You have only gone into limited depth or detail with your ideas. You have communicated ideas somewhat effectively.
“D” POOR WORK (60/100)
This work is disorganized, does not fully adhere to the assignment’s directions and displays poor logic. While you have made some attempt to complete all aspects of the assignment, the work contains evidence of lazy thinking and lack of effort and ultimately this is not an example of good scholarship. Your explanations are only somewhat effective and you have not analyzed your topics in any real depth.
For discussions only: Separate from the above at this grade level, this is the highest grade awarded if the minimum requirements for the Initial Post are not met or no Reflection Post was submitted.
“F” PARTIAL CREDIT or NO CREDIT (0-59/100)
Either you didn’t turn in the complete work or your work shows evidence of plagiarism (automatic zero). I will grant partial points on rare occasions and at my discretion. Of course, any work submitted, regardless of the length or amount of content, will still be graded based upon minimum requirements.
https://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2019/09/jackson_lottery.pdf
https://shortstoryamerica.com/pdf_classics/hughes_thank_you_maam.pdf
http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/cherry.html
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